Method of individually fitting a hearing device or hearing aid

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a method of providing parameters for the fitting process of individually shaped or customized hearing devices by collecting and storing fitting parameters during a fitting process by a local fitting computer; generating an individual encryption key related to the hearing device; sending the stored fitting parameters encrypted with the encryption key to a remote database; storing the encryption key in the memory of the hearing device; reading out the encryption key from the hearing device; reading out data from the remote database using the encryption. Thus, the privacy of the individual fitting data of a hearing device is secured.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method of providing parameters for thefitting process of individually shaped or customized hearing devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

For a first or continuous fitting of hearing devices, such asindividually customized behind the ear or in-the-ear hearing aids of auser of the hearing device, the process comprises the steps ofretrieving and storing data about diagnostic information about theuser's hearing loss, information about the user's preferences andprevious experience with hearing amplification, choosing one of severalknown formulas for deriving an initial gain setting based on theinformation above, the acoustic coupling of the user's ear andindividual demands and eventually complaints from the user with regardto particular listing situations. These data will serve as inputparameters for the fitting process. During the fitting process, theparameters will then have to be adjusted by using the mentionedparameters to reach the desired result.

This fitting process is regularly made by a hearing professional who hasaccess to said parameters. If the user has to change the hearingprofessional, the new hearing professional has to recreate the currentfitting adjustments or fitting parameters of the hearing device.

In known hearing devices those fitting parameters are stored innon-volatile memory inside the hearing aid itself that may be read outby the hearing professionals by a fitting interface. The data may thenbe used within a fitting software usually provided by the manufacturerof the hearing device. The amount of memory needed to store suchinformation is typically very high and is thus undesirable with respectto the limited amount of memory typically available in hearing devices.An extension of the memory of hearing devices is expensive and occupiesthe restricted volume of the usually miniaturized hearing device. It isthus desirable to limit the amount of memory required by the hearingdevice for all its functionality.

One known solution for saving memory amount within the hearing device isto store information or data on an external storage medium. If thisexternal storage medium has to be handled by the user of the hearingdevice, the risk of failure due to a loss of this storage device or afaulty manipulation of the external storage is very high.

WO 2005/125281 and WO 2005/003902 are describing systems for storing andretrieving data in a remote database system. Thus, the amount of memoryneeded by those data may be saved in the internal memory of the hearingdevice. On the other hand, the data on the centralized database systemare not secured and may eventually be used by any person interested insuch data. For a user of a hearing device, it is regularly undesirableto have stored its private data on a centralized database system withuncontrolled access to those data.

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a method forproviding a secure and complete set of data of individual fittingparameters for performing the fitting process for a hearing device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method of providing parameters for thefitting process of individually shaped or customized hearing devices bycollecting and storing fitting parameters during a fitting process by alocal fitting computer; generating an individual encryption key relatedto the hearing device; sending the stored fitting parameters encryptedwith the encryption key to a remote database; storing the encryption keyin the memory of the hearing device; reading out the encryption key fromthe hearing device; reading out data from the remote database using theencryption key for a further fitting process of the hearing device.

To have access to the stored fitting data on a remote database for afurther fitting process, this access is only possible with access to theencryption key stored within the hearing device itself. Thus, it is onlypossible to access those data if an access to the hearing device itselfis present. This is only the case for a hearing professional if hereceives the hearing device by the user itself, thus the privacy of thedata of the user stored on the remote database is secured. Furthermore,a changing of the hearing professional is possible, as a new hearingprofessional with access to the remote database will have access to theactual fitting data by using the encryption key of the proper hearingdevice. Without the hearing device, the old hearing professional will nolonger have access to the fitting data, thus the privacy of such fittingdata is secured.

In one embodiment the remote database is a shared data storage, locatedat one or more locations, accessible via online connections from anyother location. By providing a centralized data storage the storagecapacity of this device may dynamically grow with the number of hearingdevices and the amount of data to be stored. It is clear, that thecentralized data storage may itself be a storage cluster withdistributed shared storage devices, located at one location or atseveral different locations. As the data storage is accessible anytimefrom any location, all data generated in connection with the fittingprocess may already be entered into the data storage and is thusinstantly available for any following fitting process at any location,provided that the encryption code stored in the hearing device ispresent.

In another embodiment, the connection will be established via theInternet. The accessibility of the data in the data storage via anInternet connection allows a quick and simple transfer of those datawithout the need of specialized connection means only for the purpose offitting the hearing device. By using encryption the privacy of the datais always ensured.

In a further embodiment, the encryption key is an electronic encryptionkey or a password. A password may be used especially for low-criticalappliances with respect of privacy.

In a further embodiment, at least one of the following geometry data isstored:

-   -   diagnostic information about the hearing loss of the user of the        hearing device;    -   information about the users preferences with hearing        amplification;    -   information about the previous experiences with hearing        amplification;    -   acoustic coupling of the ear of the user of the hearing device;    -   individual demands or complaints of the user of the hearing        device with regard to the particular listening situation.

With such data available to the hearing professional performing thefitting process, it is possible to obtain a simplified model to achievea good approximation of the acoustic properties of the customizedhearing device and to start the fitting process with nearly optimalparameters which only need minor modification during the final fittingprocess.

It is pointed out that the present invention not only applies to hearingdevices such as behind the ear or in the ear canal hearing aids for thecompensation or correction of a hearing impairment. The presentinvention may be applied as well for any hearing device used to improvecommunication.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For the purpose of facilitating and understanding of the invention,there is illustrated in the accompanying drawing a preferred embodimentthereof to be considered in connection with the following description.Thus the invention may be readily understood and appreciated by the onlyFIGURE showing schematically a process view of one embodiment of theinventive method.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the only FIGURE, the process of storing and retrieving datafor the fitting process of an individually shaped or customized hearingdevice will be described.

A user 1 is wearing a hearing device 2, i.e. a behind-the-ear hearingdevice. It is clear for the person skilled in the art that any othertype of hearing device 2 may be used as well.

A first hearing professional 3 is performing the fitting process of thehearing device 2 by use of a computer 4 with a computer program providedby the hearing device manufacturer. The individual set of information 5of user 1 collected and developed by the hearing professional 3 such ashearing loss, preferences and settings of the hearing device 2 will bestored in a database of a remote server 7. The access to those data iscontrolled by encryption with an encryption key 6. In one embodiment,this encryption key 6 is stored within the non-volatile memory ofhearing device 2.

The encryption key 6 is unique and associated only to the hearing device2. Therefore, it is only possible to access the specific data of hearingdevice 2 by use of this encryption key 6 and thus under the control ofthe user 1 of hearing device 2.

The encryption key 6 may consist of an electronic encryption key or apassword or other unique authentication means.

For performing any subsequent fitting process, the individual set ofinformation 5 corresponding to the hearing device 2 stored in thedatabase of the remote server 7 may be retrieved again by a secondhearing professional 8 by use of his computer 7. To read out properlythose data, the encryption key 6, stored in or associated to the hearingdevice 2 has to be used. Therefore, the privacy of the individual set ofinformation 5 is secured.

The second hearing professional 8 may be the same person as the firsthearing professional 3 or may be another person. Thus, the user 1 mayfreely decide to change the assistance for fitting his hearing device 2without the risk of loosing the fitting data of his hearing device 2 orwithout the risk of loosing the privacy of his individual data.

In one embodiment of the invention, this remote server 7 is a remoteshared data storage, located i.e. at the hearing device manufacturinglocation. This data storage is advantageously online accessible from alldifferent locations where the fitting process takes place. This accessmay for instance be provided via direct Internet access to this datastorage. One of the great advantages of such a data storage is in factits practically unlimited storage capacity. As the centralized datastorage does not have to be moved together with the hearing device 2, itis not limited by weight or shape and may be designed to dynamicallygrow with the needs of storage capacity. It is thus possible to storethe complete fitting parameters and data of the hearing device 2 foreach individual user 1.

For the fitting process, all of those stored data may preliminary beused for a complete simulation of the acoustical performance of thehearing device 2 under operational conditions, i.e. when inserted intothe user's 1 ear canal and thus an intelligent pre-calculation ofoptimal hearing device settings may be performed prior to the finalfitting process. For instance, vent shape such as cross section, lengthand curvature, vent microphone distances, shell thickness, estimatedresidual volume between the hearing device and the tympanic membrane aresuch geometry information that can be used for the fitting process. Alsoother parameters determined during a fitting process and stored in thedata storage may used if of relevant influence with respect to theoptimal acoustic performance of the hearing device 2.

A method for recording of information in a hearing aid is published inEP 1 414 271. This method may be used for the technical process ofstoring the information described above either in the hearing aid memoryor in a centralized or shared storage.

Thus, the present invention provides a method to improve the security ofthe individual fitting data, as data collected through the whole processof fitting of a hearing device 2 are used preliminary and/or during thefitting of the hearing device 2 at the hearing professional's officeonly under control of the unique encryption key 6 of the specifichearing device 2. As it is currently not possible to store such datacompletely within the memory of the hearing device 2, the use of asecure remote shared data storage device is of great advantage.

1. Method of providing parameters for the fitting process ofindividually shaped or customized hearing devices (2) by collecting andstoring fitting parameters during a fitting process by a local fittingcomputer (4); generating an individual encryption key (6) related to thehearing device (2); sending the stored fitting parameters encrypted withthe encryption key (6) to a remote database (7); storing the encryptionkey (6) in the memory of the hearing device (2); reading out theencryption key (6) from the hearing device (2); reading out data fromthe remote database (7) using the encryption key (6) for a furtherfitting process of the hearing device (2).
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the remote database (7) is a shared data storage, located at oneor more locations, accessible via online connections from any otherlocation.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the connection will beestablished via the Internet.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein theencryption key (6) is an electronic encryption key or a password.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein at least one of the following parameters isstored: diagnostic information about the hearing loss of the user of thehearing device; information about the users preferences with hearingamplification; information about the previous experiences with hearingamplification; acoustic coupling of the ear of the user of the hearingdevice; individual demands or complaints of the user of the hearingdevice with regard to the particular listening situation.